U.S. patent number 6,833,825 [Application Number 09/522,371] was granted by the patent office on 2004-12-21 for apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Apple Computer, Inc.. Invention is credited to Bartley K. Andre, William H. Bull, Jeffrey B. Doar, Abraham S. Farag, Benjamin B. Lyon, Harold James Welch.
United States Patent |
6,833,825 |
Farag , et al. |
December 21, 2004 |
Apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing system
Abstract
According to one aspect of the invention an apparatus is
provided for remotely controlling a digital processing system,
comprising a housing, a scrolling detector, a cursor positioning
detector, and a transmitter. The housing has a wall having an outer
scrolling surface over which a finger of a person's hand is movable
in a scrolling movement. The scrolling detector is located within
the housing. The scrolling detector detects the scrolling movement
remotely through the wall and generates a scrolling signal. The
cursor positioning detector is secured to the housing and is
actuable by the hand to generate a position signal. The transmitter
transmits the scrolling signal and the position signal to the
digital processing system.
Inventors: |
Farag; Abraham S. (Palo Alto,
CA), Welch; Harold James (San Jose, CA), Andre ; Bartley
K. (Menlo Park, CA), Doar; Jeffrey B. (Fremont, CA),
Bull; William H. (Los Gatos, CA), Lyon; Benjamin B.
(Kensington, CA) |
Assignee: |
Apple Computer, Inc.
(Cupertino, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
33511878 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/522,371 |
Filed: |
March 10, 2000 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/158;
178/19.03; 200/510; 200/511; 341/25; 341/31; 345/156; 345/157;
345/159; 345/165; 345/166; 345/173; 348/734; 379/93.19 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
3/0383 (20130101); G06F 3/03543 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
3/033 (20060101); G09G 005/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;345/159,156,169,173,164,165,158,160,163,157 ;358/28 ;341/25,31
;178/19.03 ;379/93.19 ;348/734 ;200/510,511 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Wu; Xiao
Assistant Examiner: Abdulselam; Abbas
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor &
Zafman LLP
Claims
What is claimed:
1. An apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing
system, comprising: a housing having a wall with an outer scrolling
surface over which a finger of a person's hand is movable in a
scrolling movement, wherein the finger is moved back and forth over
the scrolling surface; a scrolling detector located within the
housing, detecting the scrolling movement remotely through the
wall, and generating a scrolling signal, wherein the scrolling
detector includes a plurality of capacitor terminals adjacent one
another and within the housing, and disposed along an arc such that
the capacitor terminals are equidistantly spaced from the outer
scrolling surface, the capacitor terminals detecting a change in
capacitance as the finger moves in the scrolling movement; a cursor
positioning detector secured to the housing, being actuable by the
hand to generate a position signal; and a transmitter which
transmits the scrolling signal and the position signal to the
digital processing system.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the scrolling detector detects
the scrolling movement by detecting a change in capacitance.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein a capacitance between adjacent
ones of the capacitor terminals changes when the finger moves in
the scrolling movement.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the scrolling surface is
curved.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the scrolling detector includes
a scrolling signal generator which is coupled to the capacitor
terminal to receive a capacitance change signal indicative of a
change in capacitance measured by each capacitor terminal, the
scrolling signal generator utilizing the capacitance change signals
to generate the scrolling signal which is indicative of the
scrolling movement.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the housing has an outer
holding surface which is shaped to be held within a cup of the
hand.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein movement of the housing over a
working surface causes the cursor positioning detector to generate
the position signal.
8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the outer holding surface and
the outer scrolling surface have a continuous curvature.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a multiplexer which
receives the scrolling signal and the position signal and utilizes
the scrolling signal and position signal to generate at least one
digital processing signal which is transmitted by the transmitter
to the digital processing system.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the multiplexer is a time
division multiplexer.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the transmitter is a cable
extending out of the housing.
12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the wall is optically
transmissive and the detector includes at least one optical
detector located within the housing and detecting the scrolling
movement through the wall.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the wall is transmissive to
infrared radiation and the optical detector is an infrared
detector.
14. Apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing system,
comprising: a housing for positioning on a working surface, the
housing having an outer holding surface which is shaped to be held
within a cup of a hand, at least part of the housing being a wall
having an outer scrolling surface over which a finger of the hand
is movable in a scrolling movement, wherein the finger is moved
back and forth over the scrolling surface; a scrolling detector
located within the housing, the scrolling detector detecting the
scrolling movement of the finger remotely through the wall, and
generating a scrolling signal which includes information indicative
of the scrolling movement, wherein the scrolling detector includes
a plurality of capacitor terminals located adjacent one another
within the housing, and disposed along an arc such that the
capacitor terminals are equidistantly spaced from the outer
scrolling surface, the capacitor terminals detecting a change in
capacitance as the finger moves in the scrolling movement; a cursor
positioning detector secured to the housing, the housing being
movable by the hand over the working surface, the cursor
positioning detector detecting cursor positioning movement of the
housing over the working surface and generating a position signal
which includes information indicative of the cursor positioning
movement; and a transmitter which transmits the scrolling signal
and the position signal to the digital processing system.
15. A method of remotely controlling a digital processing system,
comprising: scrolling a finger in a scrolling movement, wherein the
finger is moved back and forth over a scrolling surface of a wall
of a housing, the scrolling movement being detected by a scrolling
detector remotely through the wall, the scrolling detector
generating a scrolling signal which is transmitted to the digital
processing system, wherein the scrolling detector includes a
plurality of capacitor terminals located adjacent one another, and
disposed along an arc such that the capacitor terminals are
equidistantly spaced from the scrolling surface, the capacitor
terminals detecting a change in capacitance as the finger moves in
the scrolling movement; and actuating a cursor positioning
controller, secured to the housing, with the hand, the cursor
positioning controller generating a position signal which is
transmitted to the digital processing system.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for remotely
controlling a digital processing system.
2). Discussion of Related Art
Apparatus for remotely controlling a digital processing system
usually includes a housing and a cursor positioning detector which
is actuable by hand to generate the position signal when
transmitted to the digital processing system. The digital
processing system then utilizes the signal to control a cursor on a
screen.
Once such an apparatus for controlling a digital processing system
is in the form of a mouse wherein the housing has an upper surface
which is shaped to be held within a cup of a person's hand. A ball
is located in a base of the housing and rolls over a working
surface when the housing is moved over the working surface. A
detector then detects rotational movement of the ball and generates
a position signal.
More recently, apparatuses have been developed which, in addition
to generating a position signal, generate a scrolling signal. The
scrolling signal is usually generated by rotating a wheel which
protrudes from an upper surface of a housing. A detector then
detects rotational movement of the wheel and generates a scrolling
signal which is transmitted to a digital processing system. A wheel
has moving parts which can break. The wheel requires several parts
which, once assembled, allow dirt and water to enter into the
housing.
Another device may utilize a resistor pad which is mounted within
an upper surface of a housing. Although the housing may have a
concave, curved surface, the resistive pad would be flat. There
would thus be a discontinuity in curvature from an upper surface of
the housing to the pad. Such a discontinuity is ergonomically less
desirable than a continuous curvature.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention an apparatus is provided
for remotely controlling a digital processing system, comprising a
housing, a scrolling detector, a cursor positioning detector, and a
transmitter. The housing has a wall having an outer scrolling
surface over which a finger of a person's hand is movable in a
scrolling movement. The scrolling detector is located within the
housing. The scrolling detector detects the scrolling movement
remotely through the wall and generates a scrolling signal. The
cursor positioning detector is secured to the housing and is
actuable by the hand to generate a position signal. The transmitter
transmits the scrolling signal and the position signal to the
digital processing system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is further described by way of example with reference
to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals
indicate like or similar components and:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of apparatus, according to one embodiment
of the invention, for controlling a digital processing system,
illustrating internal components;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
and
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of apparatus, according to
another embodiment of the invention, for controlling a digital
processing system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings illustrate an
apparatus 10 for controlling a digital processing system according
to an embodiment of the invention. The apparatus 10 includes a
housing 12, a scrolling detector 14, a cursor positioning detector
16, a time division multiplexer 18, and a cable transmitter 20.
The housing 12 includes a base 24 and an upper wall 26. The base 24
has a lower surface 28 which is substantially flat and an upper
surface 30. The upper wall 26 has an upper, outer surface 32, and a
lower, inner surface 34. Inner confines of the housing 12 are
defined by the upper surface 30 of the base 24 and the lower
surface 34 of the upper wall 26.
The upper surface 32 of the upper wall 26 has a convex shape which
is ergonomically dimensioned to fit within a cup of a person's
hand. The wall may be between 0.5 mm and 3 mm thick. A front
portion of the upper surface 32 forms a scrolling surface 38. The
upper surface 32 has a continuous curvature so that there is no
step between the scrolling surface 38 and any other area of the
upper surface 32. The scrolling surface 38 follows the same convex,
curved surface of the upper surface 32.
The scrolling detector 14 is located within the housing 12 and
includes a plurality of capacitor terminals 42 and a scrolling
signal generator 44.
The capacitor terminals 42 are in the form of elongate strips which
are attached next to one another against the lower surface 34 of
the upper wall 26. The capacitor terminals 42 are located on an
area of the lower surface 34 of the upper wall 26 directly opposing
the scrolling surface 38. The upper wall 26 is uniformly thick so
that the capacitor terminals 42 are thus equidistantly spaced from
the scrolling surface 38 and located against a concave portion of
the lower surface 34. Each capacitor terminal 42 is connected by a
respective capacitor sensor line 46 to the scrolling signal
generator 44. The scrolling signal generator 44 thus receives an
input from each capacitor terminal 42 which is indicative of a
change in capacitance measured by the respective capacitor terminal
42.
In use, a person locates a hand over the upper surface 32 of the
upper wall 26. A forefinger of the hand can then be located against
the scrolling surface 38 and moved back and forth in a direction 56
over the scrolling surface 38.
An electric field is generated between and around adjacent ones of
the capacitor terminals 42. The electric field is partially located
within the upper wall 26 and partially located outside the housing
12 in the region of the scrolling surface 38. Movement of the
finger 54 over the scrolling surface 38 causes a disturbance in the
electric field. The disturbance in the electric field results in a
change of capacitance between adjacent ones of the capacitor
terminals 42. The change in capacitance is most between adjacent
ones of the capacitor terminals 42 located nearest the finger 54.
The change in capacitance of one of the capacitor terminals 42
results in a change in voltage on the capacitor sensor line 46. The
change in voltage is most in the capacitor sensor line 46 which is
connected to one of the capacitor terminals 42 located closest to
the finger 54. The scrolling signal generator 44 thus receives
capacitance change signals via the capacitor sensor lines 46 which
indicate where the finger 54 is located on the scrolling surface
38.
The scrolling signal generator 44 then generates a scrolling signal
which is transmitted through the output line 50 and is indicative
of which one of the voltages is most effected in the capacitor
sensor lines 46. The scrolling signal may, for example, be a
voltage which is high when the finger 54 is near an upper one of
the capacitor terminals 42 and which is low when the finger 54 is
near a lower one of the capacitor terminals 42. One skilled in the
art would appreciate that other embodiments are also possible, such
as generating a digital scrolling signal having an numerical value
which indicates where the finger 54 is located or by outputting a
quadrature signal of movement of the finger 54 instead of
position.
One can thus see that the capacitors 42 detect the position of the
finger 54 on the scrolling surface 38 remotely through the upper
wall 26. By so detecting the position of the finger 54, it is
possible to form the upper surface 32 and the scrolling surface 38
in a more ergonomically friendly manner. In particular, it is
possible to form the upper surface 38 so as to have a uniform
curvature and without a step or a transition between the scrolling
surface 38 and any other area of the upper surface 32. Although the
scrolling surface 38 is curved, the capacitor terminals 42 are
still equidistantly spaced from the scrolling surface 38, thus
ensuring an electronic field which is sufficiently uniform to
ensure reliable operation. Another embodiment may utilize capacitor
terminals that are in a plane varying in distance from a scrolling
surface but may vary in size to that a substantially uniform
electric field is created.
The cursor positioning detector 16 includes a camera 60 and is
secured over an opening 62 and the base 24 so that the camera 60
has a lens pointing out of the housing 12. A person can hold onto
the upper surface 32 of the upper wall 26 and, while the finger 54
is located on the scrolling surface 38, move the housing 12 so that
the lower surface 28 of the base 24 slides over a working surface
66. The cursor positioning detector 16 continually takes pictures
of the working surface 66. The pictures are compared to one another
so that the change in X-and Y-coordinates of the camera 60 over the
surface 66 can be determined. The cursor positioning detector 16
then generates a position signal which is transmitted over an
output line 68 to the time division multiplexer 18. The position
signal includes information of the change in coordinates of the
camera 60 over the working surface 66. Devices such as the cursor
positioning detector 16 are known in the art. In another embodiment
the cursor positioning which can roll over a working surface. A
detector may be provided for detecting rolling motion of the ball.
Other cursor positioning detectors may also occur to one of
ordinary skill in the art.
The cable transmitter 20 is connected to the time division
multiplexer 18 and extends from the time division multiplexer 18
out of the housing 12 close to a location near the scrolling
surface 38. An end of the cable transmitter 20 can be connected to
a digital processing system so that a signal transmitted by the
time division multiplexer 18 is received by the digital processing
system. The time division multiplexer 18 receives the scrolling
signal through the output line 50 and the position signal through
the output line 68. The time division multiplexer 18 alternately
transmits the scrolling signal and the position signal through the
cable transmitter 20 to the digital processing system. The
scrolling signal and the position signal are used by the digital
processing system to control a cursor on a screen. Time division
multiplexers of this kind are know in the art. Since both the
scrolling signal and the position signal are transmitted over the
cable transmitter 20, a single cable can be used for the cable
transmitter 20. In another embodiment, the cable transmitter 20 may
include two cables, one for transmitting a scrolling signal and one
for transmitting a position signal. Another embodiment may utilize
an infrared, optical or other wireless transmitter.
FIG. 3 illustrates apparatus 10A according to an alternative
embodiment of the invention for controlling a digital processing
system. As with the embodiment of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the apparatus
10A includes a housing 12A, a scrolling signal generator 44A, a
time division multiplexer 18A, and a cursor positioning detector
16A. The housing 12A is made of a transparent material or at least
a material which is transmissive to infrared radiation. A plurality
of infrared emitter-detectors 142 are located within the housing
12A. A lens housing 144 having a plurality of lenses 146 thereon is
also located within the housing 12A between an upper wall 26A of
the housing 12A and the infrared emitter-detectors 142. The lens
housing 144 is also made of a transparent material or a material
that is transmissive to infrared radiation.
The emitter-detectors emit infrared radiation to a scrolling
surface 38A. The infrared radiation varies over time in amplitude
to eliminate the effect of stray infrared radiation. Such practice
is know in the art.
A finger 54A contacting the scrolling surface 38A transmits
infrared light back through the upper wall 26A into the housing
12A. The infrared radiation is focused by one of the lenses 146A
and transmits through the lens housing 144A onto one of the
infrared emitter-detectors 142. The infrared emitter-detectors 142
can thus detect the location of the finger 54A remotely through the
lens housing 144 and the upper wall 26A.
Each infrared emitter-detector 142 is connected to the scrolling
signal generator 44A so that the scrolling signal generator 44A
receives information which is indicative of where the finger 54A
contacts or is located over the scrolling surface 38A. The
scrolling signal generator 44A generates a scrolling signal which
includes information of where the finger 54A is located over the
scrolling surface 38A, and transmits the scrolling signal to the
time division multiplexer. Further details of the embodiment of
FIG. 3, including the use of the cursor positioning detector 16A
and a cable transmitter 20, are similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1
and FIG. 2.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown
in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such
embodiments are merely illustrative and not restrictive of the
current invention, and that this invention is not restricted to the
specific constructions and arrangements shown and described since
modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.
* * * * *